A paperless environment in an airport is an ultimate goal for the air travel industry as a whole. In reality, this is going to take many years to realize due to the fact that every check-in desk, every passport station, every security station, and every boarding gate must be updated to operate in a paperless environment. This will take many years to realize and in some airports may never be fully implemented due to cost implications and/or other issues. Already many airlines are providing the ability for customers to check-in and print off 2D-barcode boarding passes at home or in the office. Others are sending such documents in digital form directly to the passenger mobile phone using MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). The objective is eventually to store the boarding pass on a personal digital assistant or equivalent and then have barcode readers at each point at which the boarding pass will normally be shown to avoid the need for paper copies thereof. Similar changes are anticipated with respect to the provision of bag tags and other travel documentations.
Referring to FIG. 1, the current system for printing departure control system documents is rigid and requires an extensive network infrastructure at an airport or other locations where these documents may be printed such as in hotels for example. This requires an established end-to-end network connection (i.e. TCP/IP link) between a departure control system (DCS) and a Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) workstation or a Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) kiosk. The CUTE workstation is used by airport or airline staff to print boarding passes and other travel documents for example at a check-in desk. The CUSS kiosk is used by the customer (in self service mode) to generally print boarding passes, and is activated by a reference number, such as the passenger frequent flyer identifier or e-ticket number. The current method can be slow due to the fact that all communications are linked back to the same DCS and only specific printers (both in terms of hardware and software) are available to print such documents. In addition, due to these delays and other issues, for example there are often queues of passengers waiting to be processed either via the kiosk or by airline staff; this is not aligned with the need for streamlined processes for customers.
There already exists a facility to check-in via the web and then print off boarding passes at home or in the office. This has produced certain security threats as false boarding passes can be generated with little effort by a malicious third party to enter the boarding area in the airport. In addition, since all the check-in process is carried out before the customer sets out for his or her journey, cancellation and changes for the check-in preferences may not be implemented easily or communicated to the customers. Airports also provide the facility for kiosk check-in which requires the use of a credit card or ticket number to access the boarding pass which is then printed by the kiosk. Each kiosk is specific to a specific airline and requires considerable space and is relatively costly to implement. If customers then wish to check-in a bag they must queue again to do this by means of a manned desk.
A mobile check-in has been implemented in certain limited examples. The DCS sends a check-in notification via SMS (Short Message Service) to registered customers at a predetermined time limit before departure. The customers can then reply by SMS to confirm the check-in and receive detailed information such as seat number, boarding time etc. However, the customer is still required to use either a check-in counter or a self-service kiosk to print paper boarding passes and bag tags and still has to deposit bags at a manned desk. In addition, SMS is subject to roaming issues and requires prior registration from customers. Also, establishment of agreements with telecommunication providers is necessary to enable messaging to occur in all locations. Finally, SMS check-in is not particularly sophisticated and does not allow the customer to deal with advanced check-in features such as seat selection, payment of excess baggage charges, handling disruption, etc.
WO2008/030814 discloses a method and system for providing an authentication system in order to retrieve stored data. The data is encrypted through specific keys which use biometric sources. The patent application also discloses a method for printing a document from a hand-held device. The application does not disclose any details of how to manage the printing of a document from a hand-held device in order to ensure that security issues are met and to provide the other advantages of the present invention.